This post is probably going to bore the socks off of anyone who reads it but oh, well. As the subject line clearly states this is about infixes and their use in the English Language. The English Language does not use an infix (a word inserted into the middle of a word much like a prefix or suffix) the way other languages like Arabic do. In fact, there is only a few cases where I personally know of an infix being used in English. And all of these cases use some sort of swear word/derogation. In the case of Shinzwani, an infix is inserted to express self reflection. In English we have terms like abso-f*cking-lutely, or abso-bloody-lutely. What does this say about English? Are infixes just not a concern? Or do we only use them to emphasize something? And then why are we only using derogatory infixes?
Hmmm, something to think about. If you have any other infixes, please add them to my comments. I would like also like to hear if those of you who are living in English speaking countries outside of the US have any others as well (Hint, Hint.)
1 comment:
I got here through Material World.... And I noticed that you twittered about gender-neutral languages. Yea, there are quite a bit of them. My language, Yoruba, is one of them. I also heard that Turkish is also gender-neutral.
Oyeronke Oyewumi, a Yoruba scholar at SUNY Stony Brook, wrote a book about gender among the Yoruba. One of her main arguments is that since Yoruba is not gendered the Yoruba's dont have gender. I disagree with that....
Anyway, nice to meet another anthro grad student.
http://www.anthroblogs.org/nativeanthropologist
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